The Walt Disney Company announced this past Monday, that Catherine Powell, president of Disney Parks West is leaving the company.
She was in charge of Disneyland Paris as well as the american parks, Disneyland and Walt Disney World since 2004.
The company mentioned she is departing to do something different but didn’t release any further details about her position being eliminated, however her departure is coincidental with the attendance fall of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. She was part of the recent opening of both lands over in Orlando and California.
Disney’s CEO Bob Iger said back in August that some guest might be putting off visiting the new lands for fear of big crowds, in addition hotels around the Anaheim area raised prices in anticipation of the opening of SWGE. We are not sure if this has something to do with Powell leaving the company but it might be a good possibility.
“Guest satisfaction, interest in the attraction and in the land is extremely high, they’re among the most popular things in the park. And so long term, and we build these things for long term, we have no concerns whatsoever about them” said Iger. “So we feel great about the product we’ve created. It’s just going to take some time for things to work themselves out in terms about how the marketplace is reacting” he added.
From now on the heads of individual resorts will report directly to Disney’s chairman of parks, experiences and products, Bob Chapek.
Catherine’s departure is a big step back to what Bob Iger said in his New York Times profile promising to put more women in top executive positions at The Walt Disney Company in order to have a greater gender parity.
Photo credit: Disney
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